The end (I hope!) to the water saga

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:06 pm

After days of searching with all kinds of equipment, the plumbers decided that a) they were not likely to find the leak and b) even if they did, patching it would only be a band-aid effort anyway. Much to our surprise and pleasure, they were able to find a route for a new water line that didn't involve tearing up our driveway or digging up more than a bit of the yard (which they were able to hand-dig and back fill). In less than 12 hours we had a brand new copper line from the meter to our house (complete with pressure regulator, which our old one didn't have), and the only significant damage was to a small stretch of asphalt, which they repaired with concrete and re-bar. Total financial damage (other than the water bill from Hell)...$1,865, which is pretty reasonable, considering that itincluded the previous visit to diagnose the problem (which took a couple fo hourse), all material and labor. The leak location experts they brought in very kindly waived their fee, because they weren't able to find the leak, which I thought was incredibly nice of them. I had envisioned something more like $5,000-$10,000, so I'm incredibly relieved. It's still a big expense (we're not the kind of people who can drop a couple of thousand down the toilet -- literally -- without some pain. I don't know many people who are!), but a do-able one.

I was really impressed with the promptness, professionalism, and friendly attitude of the plumber and his employees. A local business (which I prefer) that I happened to come across when searching frantically to find someone to help us with our problem. I will use them again without hesitation.

I have to admit, when I saw them unrolling all that pretty copper tubing, my first thought was "I know a couple of people who could probably make a really pretty whistle out of that!"

Anyway, thought you'd like to know the outcome.

Redwolf

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:39 pm

That's a relief. The total cost seems very reasonable to me. Copper tubing is quite expensive these days. Now you can look forward to your next water bill.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:43 pm

Congrats, Audrey.

My guesstimate had been pretty close to yours. Still not fun, or painless, but less painful than I would have feared.

I'm convinced that houses are like cars - they sense when you least want a surprise . . . and give you one. Doing regular maintenance reduces the frequency, but can't eliminate it. (Rather like eating right and doing regular exercise and the body, I suppose

)

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:46 pm

So----they made a route for your water that bypasses wherever the leak is and so the leaky pipe will now be empty because they closed off a way for the water to get in it. Is that right? That sure seems like a brilliant idea to me. Congratulations!

And yes, it does seem incredibly nice of the leak searchers not to charge anything----I would have thought there was a basic fee or something. Sounds like a nice, smart bunch of people. Glad to hear how the problem was solved.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:09 pm

I'm glad to hear that the problem is fixed. What a nightmare!

Now just hope no thieves saw them laying that copper water line.
Around here they are stealing wiring and pulmbing out of houses in various stages of construction because of the high value of copper!

kkrell · Post by **kkrell** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:26 pm

Next time, hire a dowser to find your leak.

Kevin Krell

CountryKitty · Post by **CountryKitty** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 4:53 am

Glad the problem is now fixed. And I'm really glad it was handled with courtey and professionalism:). There are some really awful stories about unprofessional behavior out there.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:43 am

So are you being held liable for that massive water bill? Considering you didn't actually USE that water?

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:22 am

Glad to know the outcome. Someone suggested that, if my memory serves (and mostly it doesn't).
Under the circumstances, the damage (cost) wasn't outrageous. Have a glass of water on me!

Sliabh Luachra · Post by **Sliabh Luachra** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:26 am

Innocent Bystander wrote:Glad to know the outcome. Someone suggested that, if my memory serves (and mostly it doesn't).
Under the circumstances, the damage (cost) wasn't outrageous. Have a glass of water on me!

That would have been me. But I hate to say "I told you so."

Mark

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:51 am

avanutria wrote:So are you being held liable for that massive water bill? Considering you didn't actually USE that water?

As far as I know, yes. I haven't heard anyone suggest otherwise, even though I called the billing office yesterday and told them it was fixed (and have been keeping them apprised of developments during this entire saga, such as our living with running water for only a few hours a day for the past week). It's a private utility, so who knows? My guess is that it's no different in their mind than if I'd had a leaky faucet or toilet (though it's different to MY mind, because there's no way I could have known about the leak until I got the bill). We'll see what happens.

Cynth...what they did was entirely abandon the old line. It's disconnected at the meter and at the house, and is now just lying somewhere under the ground.

Redwolf

Brewster · Post by **Brewster** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:46 am

Good to hear that your problem was fixed. It's still painful to part with all that money, even if it's less than your nightmare scenario. You could have bought a lot of whistles with that $$$.

Kind of reminds me of my car episode this winter, although this was entirely caused by me. I forgot to set the parking brake on my car (it's a manual transmission). When I looked out the window 10 minutes later, the car had rolled down the slight incline in my front yard and ran into a tree next to the driveway, putting a tree trunk shaped dent in the front bumper. It cost me $750 to have the bumper replaced--an expensive reminder to always set the parking brake!

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:13 am

I'm glad to hear it came out so well for you. Finding a real professional just shows how well it should have been done in the first place.

djm

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 3:48 pm

Sliabh Luachra wrote:
Innocent Bystander wrote:Glad to know the outcome. Someone suggested that, if my memory serves (and mostly it doesn't).
Under the circumstances, the damage (cost) wasn't outrageous. Have a glass of water on me!
That would have been me. But I hate to say "I told you so."

Mark

Oh go ahead...say it!

But seriously...they hoped to find that the leak was at a joint (the original line had different kinds of pipe...copper, galvanized and presumably pvc...coming together at odd angles), which might have been cheaper and easier to fix. When we got to the point where it was going to cost more to find the leak than to simply replace the line, however, the plumber recommended replacing it (and came up with a way to do it without digging up the driveway, for which I'm very grateful!)

Redwolf